"Oblivion" helmer Joe Kosinski is directing the film, a sequel to the 1986 "Top Gun", from a script by Peter Craig, Justin Marks and Eric Warren Singer. Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced the first film with the late Don Simpson, will produce with Cruise and Skydance CEO David Ellison.

This latest project will be set in a world of drone technology and will explore the end of the era of dogfighting, with Cruise portraying a flight instructor. In late May, Cruise posted a photo of himself in front of what appeared to be a Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet.

Variety reported on July 3 that "Only the Brave" star Miles Teller had been tapped to play the son of the Goose character and Maverick's new protege. Goose, the co-pilot to Cruise's Maverick character in the original, was played by Anthony Edwards.

Val Kilmer will reprise his role as Tom "Iceman" Kazansky in the sequel, which is set to be released on July 12, 2019. Charles Parnell, Jay Ellis, Bashir Salahuddin, Danny Ramirez and Monica Barbaro have also been cast. Variety reported on Aug. 21 that Barbaro would the love interest of Teller's character.

The original film was a massive success with more than $US350 million in worldwide grosses on a $US15 million budget.

Paramount confirmed the castings on Wednesday but gave no details on the roles of Hamm, Harris and Pullman.

Hamm starred in "Beirut" and "Tag," while Harris was last seen in "Geostorm".

Pullman is the son of Bill Pullman and appeared in "Strangers: Prey at Night." The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.